Tuesday, 16 September 2014

Nigeria Military Sentences 12 Soldiers To Death For Mutiny

The Nigeria Military authorities last night sentenced 12
soldiers to death for mutiny. Four soldiers were also discharged and acquitted
while one soldier was sentenced to 28 days imprisonment with hard labour.

The soldiers were arraigned before the court martial on a
six-count charge of criminal conspiracy to commit mutiny, disobeying lawful
orders and various acts inimical to military service.

One of the soldiers, Private Ise Ubong, was, however,
discharged and acquitted, having been found innocent of all the charges.

The nine-member all-military court martial also found the
soldiers guilty of insubordination, use of abusive language and levelling of
false accusation against their superior officers, among others.

They were found guilty of attempting to kill their
erstwhile General Officer Commanding (GOC) 7 Division, Maj.-Gen. Ahmed Mohammed,
by shooting at his official car between May 13 and 14, 2014.

The incident took place at the Maimalari Barracks,
Maiduguri, in the course of the ongoing counter-insurgency campaign in the
northeast.

The court also found them guilty of preventing the movement
of some of their injured colleagues to hospital and obstructing the evacuation
of their dead colleagues who were killed in an ambush on their way from an
operation in Chibok, Borno State.

They were found guilty of three out of the six charges
brought against them, which are conspiracy, mutiny and attempted murder of
Maj.-Gen. Mohammed.

The soldiers who perpetrated this near-act of mutiny,
according to various accounts, were reacting in anger over the ambush attack
they suffered in the hands of Boko Haram terrorists on their way back from an
operation in Kalabalge during which about 12 of them got killed.

The few soldiers that survived the attack blamed their
plight on the military hierarchy in the division headed by the GOC who, they
said, had insisted that they must return to Maiduguri via a route they had
earlier considered dangerous for them to take at night.

Some soldiers who shared the sentiments of the soldiers
that carried out the shooting on the GOC said the victims and those that
survived had pleaded to pass the night in one of the villages so that they could
safely return to Maiduguri.

But those commanding the troop declined their request on
the grounds that the GOC wanted them back to Maiduguri at all cost, a soldier
who pleaded anonymity had said.